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Our family dog became lost several years ago.
We returned to our acreage one day to find the kennel door open and our beloved Ginger nowhere to be found.
Fortunately, only hours passed before Ginger was safely back at home. She ventured six miles from home and allowed a family to keep her safe until we arrived.
However, not all lost dogs are safely returned home or willing to allow humans to assist them.
Luverne Elementary music teacher Beth Capistran is a dedicated pet foster mom with Tracy Area Animal Rescue and works with The Retrievers, a nonprofit organization that finds lost dogs and returns them to their owners.
Beth has successfully helped dozens of canines who are so frightened that reunions such as the one we had with our beloved Ginger are not possible.
The longer the missing dogs are away from home, the more their survival instincts take over, and they shy away from humans at all costs.
Recently, two Goldendoodle females were lost in my neck of the woods around Hardwick.
Beth often uses her social media site to post notifications of lost dogs. She’s adamant that lost dogs should never be chased.
“These pups are so very scared that if you even look at them, they will run the other way. If someone keeps driving around the area, they will move from the area they are in. Please — if you see them, just call or text in the information and leave. Totally ignore them. We really need them to stay in one area so we can humanely trap them.”
Beth gives up many hours of sleep to keep watch on a humane trap.
On June 4, one of those 5-year-old Goldendoodles was safely trapped. The other is still on the run.
Beth is the Goldendoodles’ case manager, her first assignment with The Retrievers.
“I put on many miles putting up intersection signs, putting down feeding stations, moving cameras, setting up the trap and finally being able to successfully trap Wendy last night — six weeks to the day that the two dogs went missing.”
Wendy was very thin, full of ticks, tired and missing some hair after putting on “more miles than FedEx delivery people at Christmastime.”
I’d be extremely humbled and grateful if someone like Beth would spend weeks of her precious time trying to bring my dog back to me.
With the fireworks season just around the corner, more family dogs like Wendy and her sister could become scared, run away from people and hide. The more frightened the dog is, the harder it is to bring the animal home safely — sometimes the dog will run into traffic, with disastrous outcomes.
Beth recommends calling The Retrievers phone number, 612-321-8774, with possible sightings. Do not yell, approach or chase.
The Retrievers website, theretrievers.org, has many find-your-pet resources. They also have a dedicated team of case managers like Capistran.
A special event will take place June 16 at Take 16 in Luverne. For $25, pet owners can have their animals microchipped so they can be reunited if the pet becomes lost and is found by a Good Samaritan.
For Beth, fostering pets and finding lost dogs allows her to make a difference locally.
“My students ask me about it and I tell them that everybody needs to find their niche in life to do something to make our world better. Helping animals is what I do to help.”
Beth is definitely a dog’s best friend.